Just a few days ago, the M.A.C. Instagram page posted a closeup photo of a mouth modeling the brand's iconic Ruby Woo shade of lipstick. Around that mouth was, as you might imagine, skin — but it's unlike any skin you've ever seen in real life. It's hairless and poreless in such a way that no laser could ever accomplish, and almost certainly the result of photo-editing. And while such "perfection" is unrealistic, it's common in many cosmetic brands' imagery — or at least it was. Just yesterday, M.A.C. seemed to suddenly change their approach to lip shots, showing visible hair on a model's skin and hinting at a shift in the way we expect to see makeup presented.

Reposting a photo by makeup artist Matthew King, M.A.C. said, "Into the woods with Lip Pencil in Chestnut is probably the closest to nature we'll get this year. M·A·C Artist @mttthw helps @nats.vibe find her wild side." And while the brand makes no mention of the model's tiny, fine hairs above her lip — probably because it's 100-percent normal to have hair above one's lip — the fact that they weren't Photoshopped out, as even the most indistinct facial hair so often is, makes quite a statement. And it didn't go unnoticed by the brand's Instagram followers, some of whom had less-than-open-minded things to say.

"What's up with the moustache?" wrote one blunt commenter. Others unsolicitedly recommended that the model should try waxing or threading because "Upper lip hair showing too much ?." As if they've never seen real facial skin before and forgetting that the post was about a beautiful, gradient use of a gorgeous brown lip pencil, other commenters made remarks like, "Those hair on upper lips demand to b plucked," and "model forgot to shave moustache."

While the visible hairs inexplicably offended some people and probably didn't even register with others, it made a great impression on several commenters. "Thank you for not photoshopping the hairs out ❤️," one fan wrote. "It’s nice to show the true face once in a while. Because the reality is more women deal with facial hair than those that don’t! Thank you @maccosmetics for keeping it ?!!" Others responded directly to the hair shamers with comments like, "We all have body hair and each one of us should decide if we want to wax or not."

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The divide echoes what happened on August 17, when M.A.C.'s U.K. Instagram account posted the work of makeup artist Anna Donegan. The lip closeup shows a bit of blonde peach fuzz under the model's lower lip, and it prompted comments like, "When you show pictures of your lips, please treat the hair around your lips." Several others responded to the criticism, with one commenter putting it perfectly: "There's nothing 'wrong' with this hair at all. Actually, this picture is so refreshing. Pretty much everyone has this downy hair around their lips and I love seeing it not being photoshopped out. Well done, MAC x."

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Although M.A.C. hasn't officially announced a commitment to showing facial hair as it naturally appears on models' faces, it wouldn't be a surprise following another major makeup brand's recent decision to start showcasing the work of makeup artists who don't edit their models' skin: Urban Decay has recently been praised for posting photos in which freckles, acne, and other completely normal skin characteristics are visible. And while there's nothing wrong with trying to achieve a "flawless" complexion with makeup, hair-removal techniques, and filters, seeing imagery that reminds us that plenty of beautiful people have the same totally natural "imperfections" we all do is undeniably welcome.

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